Project Number: 6659-22000-015-00
Project Type: Appropriated

Start Date: Apr 24, 2003
End Date: Aug 31, 2005

Objective:
(1) Identify resistance to sweetpotato whitefly in melon and watermelon, and to wireworms, Diabrotica spp., and other soil insects in sweetpotato; determine the chemical and physical mechanisms responsible for insect resistance; and facilitate incorporation of insect resistance into advanced breeding lines; (2) Assess the importance and dynamics of native and exotic natural enemies and entomopathogens of sweetpotato whitefly and soil insect pests of sweetpotato, and develop techniques for their conservation and utilization as management tools; and (3) Develop cost effective integrated pest management (IPM) strategies that utilize pest resistant germplasm, biological control agents, insect monitoring techniques, or other biologically based insect control technologies that can be used to manage key vegetable insect pests in vegetable production systems.

Approach:
Identify sources of resistance against sweetpotato whiteflies in melon and watermelon and against soil insect pests of sweetpotato; facilitate incorporation of resistance into advanced sweetpotato breeding lines; determine chemical and physical mechanisms of resistance in sweetpotato; determine genetic inheritance of host plant resistance to whitefly in watermelon; determine the ability of exotic parasitoids to survive winter and become established in South Carolina; investigate the influence of leguminous host plant species on a native Eretmocerus sp.; determine effects of interplanted legumes on parasitoid populations; determine influence of temperatures on overwintering survival of a whitefly predator, Delphastus catalinae; assess use of Beauvaria bassiana for control of soil insect pests of sweetpotato; develop trapping techniques for pickleworms, melonworms, and cucumber beetles using pheromones and kairomones; evaluate alternative cropping systems for sweetpotato, pepper, and collard; and develop light-emitting diodes (LED) modified sticky cards for whitefly management

Project Team

Jackson, David - Mike Simmons, Alvin

Project Annual Reports

FY 2003